BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs - Presenters Desert Island Discs Presenters Roy Plomley Roy Plomley, the programme's creator, presented the programme for 43 years. Starting out as a stage and film actor, he began working in radio in 1936 as an announcer on Radio Normandy. Following a stint with International Radio, broadcasting from Paris and London, he began to freelance for the BBC in 1940. Although he also wrote plays, and presented other programmes such as One Minute, Please, he will be forever associated with Desert Island Discs. He wrote several books about the programme: Desert Island Discs (1975), Desert Island Picks (1982) and Desert Island Lists (1984, with his producer then, Derek Drescher). Michael Parkinson Michael Parkinson was asked to take the chair following Roy Plomley's death in May 1985. His first castaway, on 5th January 1986, was the film director Alan Parker. Parkinson, widely celebrated for his successful TV chat-show, had already himself appeared as a castaway on 19th Feb 1972.

Between 1986 and 1988, he presented nearly 100 programmes but by the end of 1987 he'd decided to move on. On 13th March 1988 he interviewed his final castaway - athlete Brendan Foster Sue Lawley Sue Lawley was well-known as a TV reporter, newsreader and presenter & had appeared as a castaway on 8th November 1987, interviewed by Michael Parkinson. Her first guest was Lord Hailsham (Quintin Hogg), who was castaway on 27th March 1988. Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Sue went on to interview a further 771 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport. On 27th August 2006, her final castaway was the actress Dame Joan Plowright, Sir Laurence Olivier’s widow. Kirsty Young Journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Young opened her tenure as presenter by interviewing the illustrator Quentin Blake on 1st October 2006.

Among her guests have been musicians Morrissey, Sir Tom Jones, Alice Cooper, and Barry Manilow, politicians Nick Clegg, Alex Salmond and Alan Johnson, actors Sir Michael Caine, Kathy Burke and June Spencer. In addition to Desert Island Discs, since 2008 she has been the presenter of Crimewatch on BBC One and has also presented the documentary series The British Family and The British at Work. Other Desert Island Discs presenters Two other people have presented editions of Desert Island Discs - Leslie Perowne, Head of Popular Record Programmes at the BBC, who interviewed Roy Plomley the first time he appeared as a castaway in May 1942. On the second occasion Plomley was castaway, in May 1958, he was interviewed by Eamonn Andrews. Strictly speaking, therefore, six people have presented Desert Island Discs over its sixty years, although only Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young can genuinely be called 'Desert Island Discs presenters' in the accepted sense.

As Desert Island Discs celebrates its 70th birthday: The show the BBC must never cast away | Daily Mail Online As Desert Island Discs celebrates its 70th birthday: The show the BBC must never cast away comments The first Desert Island Discs was broadcast on January 29, 1942, with comedian Vic Oliver as the castaway. Britain’s longest-running radio series — 70 years old this month, with an audience of three million — was born. So, asks Richard Barber, as the series approaches its 2,800th episode, just what makes it so special? THE PRESENTERS There have been only four main presenters of Desert Island Discs. Its creator Roy Plomley was first and reigned supreme for 43 years, hosting 1,791 shows. When Princess Margaret appeared with him, she said she liked Herman’s Hermits’s I’m Into Something Good, which she’d heard on the car radio while being chauffeured back to Kensington Palace.

‘Fascinating,’ intoned Plomley, ‘absolutely fascinating.’ Serial guest: Sir David Attenborough returns for a fourth time, with presenter Kirsty Young Michael Parkinson, a castaway in February 1972, took over as presenter in January 1986. Plomley’s widow is said to have found his style too slick. HEADER HERE Sir David Attenborough will be DID’s 70th anniversary guest — the fourth time he has been a castaway, equalling the record held by comedian Arthur Askey. When Attenborough was first on in 1957, his discs included a track by Chris Barber’s Jazz Band and Ralph Vaughan Williams’s All People That On Earth Do Dwell. His luxury was a piano. In 1979, the disc from which he couldn’t bear to be parted was Mozart, to which he would listen to while using his luxury: a pair of binoculars. In 1998, he chose a guitar. And this time? ‘I’m not telling you,’ says Sir David. ‘But no, I didn’t try and avoid repeating choices I’d made before because, to be honest, I couldn’t remember my previous selections.

I just picked eight discs that I thought I’d enjoy listening to.’ Parky has his own explanation for why the programme has endured. ‘The show has lasted because we all have music in our souls and in our minds,’ he said. He stepped down in March 1988 to be replaced by Sue Lawley. On taking over, she said: ‘It’s a fantastic format! The minute you ask people about their music, they start remembering things and go back into their past.’ In 1996, Lawley’s was accused of having an ‘obsession with other people’s sex lives’ after she asked the then unmarried Gordon Brown ‘whether you’re gay or whether there’s some flaw in your personality that you haven’t made a relationship’. To his credit, the then Chancellor maintained his sangfroid. ‘It just hasn’t happened,’ he replied. Kirsty Young was appointed in October 2006, and her first castaway was the illustrator Quentin Blake. ‘For me, the programme’s strength lies where it always has: in the unique blend of a castaway’s life and their music,’ she said. TEAM PLAYERS Occasionally, the programme has played host to more than one castaway.

Fanny and Johnnie Cradock appeared together in 1962 and a special edition was recorded with the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth House in 1982. He chose aftershave as his luxury; she chose new potatoes. All three Beverley Sisters were cast away together in 1961, while the Amadeus String Quartet were guests in 1978. The top tune choices.jpg THE REFUSENIKS Prince Charles said no, as did Laurence Olivier, John Prescott and Mick Jagger. Ted Hughes also declined, along with actor Albert Finney; and George Bernard Shaw was, he said, ‘far too busy with more important things’. THAT THEME TUNE With the possible exception of the music that introduces each edition of The Archers, there is no more iconic theme tune on radio than DID’s By The Sleepy Lagoon, composed by Eric Coates in 1930, inspired by a view of Bognor Regis. Above the sweeping strings and sounds of a lapping tide, the cries of herring gulls can be distinctly heard.

After complaints from ornithologists, the theme tune was re-recorded using the calls of tropical birds — more appropriate for what is assumed to be a sun-drenched Pacific island. But after squawks of protest from listeners, the gulls were reinstated. AND YOUR LUXURY? The luxuries chosen by castaways have been as diverse as they have been bizarre — from curling tongs (Dame Vera Lynn) to a pot of stew and two dumplings (Norman Wisdom), a lifetime’s supply of Frosties (Ian Hislop) and sunblock (Nicole Kidman, Annie Lennox, Joan Collins and Sue MacGregor). John Peel wanted a football and a wall to kick it against; Kristin Scott Thomas, a pair of Christian Louboutin mules; and Cilla Black, a manicure set. Simon Cowell and Graham Norton each requested a mirror. John Cleese asked for Michael Palin, stuffed. Dame Edna Everage opted for her sidekick, Madge Allsop. When Roy Plomley protested that the luxury had to be inanimate, she said this wasn’t a problem.

CASTAWAY: 70 Years Of Desert Island Discs, Radio 4, January 28, 8pm. The 70th anniversary edition is on Radio 4, January 29, 11.15am. Desert Island Discs racks up a milestone of delights - Telegraph BBC Desert Island Discs racks up a milestone of delights As the popular Radio 4 show prepares for its 3,000th episode, we look back at some of its many highlights Kirsty Young with war veteran Eric 'Winkle' Brown, who features on the 3,000th episode of Desert Island Discs Photo: BBC By David Thomas Comments THE PRESENTERS The first presenter, and creator, of Desert Island Discs was Roy Plomley, who came up with the concept one cold wartime night in November 1941. He was getting ready for bed and his coal fire had gone out when inspiration struck, but, undaunted, he sat down at his desk, typed up his idea and sent it to the BBC. On January 27 1942, the first episode was recorded in a bomb-damaged BBC studio in Maida Vale and broadcast two nights later.

Plomley once sat down to interview the thriller writer Alistair MacLean, author of Where Eagles Dare and The Guns of Navarone, only to discover that the man in front of him was an entirely different Alistair MacLean, whose modest claim to fame was being the European director of tourism for the Canadian province of Ontario. Plomley gamely completed the interview, which was then discreetly shelved. In 1958, Plomley was himself the castaway, interviewed by Eamonn Andrews. He chose Another Op’nin’, Another Show by Annabelle Hill as his favourite song, Who’s Who in the Theatre as his book and a desk with typewriter and paper as his luxury. In 1985, Plomley was replaced as host by Michael Parkinson, who lasted less than three years. Parkinson had also been a castaway, choosing Singin’ in the Rain by Gene Kelly, Death in the Afternoon by Ernest Hemingway and, again, a typewriter and paper. Sue Lawley took over in 1988, lasting until 2006.

She had been a castaway, interviewed by Parkinson in 1987, choosing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Provincial French Cooking by Elizabeth David and an iron and ironing board. Related Articles People diary: David Hockney’s greatest muse? His sister 09 Nov 2014 The current presenter, Kirsty Young, has never been a castaway, but she has said her favourite music would include Neil Diamond’s I Am… I Said, “because it reminds me of my mother coming to kiss me goodnight smelling of Chanel No 5, wearing a fringe dress and looking beyond glamorous”. THE GUESTS The first guest to appear on Desert Island Discs was the actor and radio comedian Vic Oliver, who stepped in when Plomley’s first choice, the academic and radio personality CEM Joad, said he was too busy to appear. The most senior member of the Royal family to have appeared on the show was Princess Margaret (1984), who chose Histories by Herodotus as her book and an oriental cat as her luxury.

The most glamorous royal was surely Princess Grace of Monaco, who chose a book of plays by her uncle George Kelly and a pillow. The Duchess of Kent (1989) is the only castaway ever to choose the Beatles’ song Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, along with a DIY manual and a lamp with solar batteries. A total of 236 people have appeared twice on Desert Island Discs, 12 have appeared three times, but only two men – the comedian Arthur Askey and Sir David Attenborough – have made four appearances. The only prospective castaway to have begun an interview and not finished it was the journalist and author Martha Gellhorn, whose appearance was abruptly cut short in mid-recording when it became apparent that she would not discuss her late husband Ernest Hemingway. When the newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald appeared in 1994, the Commission for Racial Equality pointed out that he was only the 10th non-white castaway, following five other black guests (Shirley Bassey, Joan Armatrading, Dizzie Gillespie, Jessye Norman and Frank Bruno), and four Asians (Ravi Shankar, Salman Rushdie, Imran Khan and photographer Mohamed Amin).

THE MUSIC Every week the castaway selects eight pieces of music, or recorded speech, to take with them to their island. More than 22,000 tracks have been selected, of which the most commonly requested is Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, from his Symphony No 9. The most beloved pop group or singer over the years has been the Beatles, whose songs have been chosen 262 times, ahead of Frank Sinatra (249) and Bing Crosby (166). In 2011, the BBC asked listeners to nominate the music they would take, whether classical or popular. The eight most popular choices were: 1 The Lark Ascending, Ralph Vaughan Williams. 2 Enigma Variations, Sir Edward Elgar. 3 Symphony No 9, Beethoven. 4 Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen. 5 Comfortably Numb, Pink Floyd. 6 Cello Concerto in E minor, Elgar. 7 Messiah, Handel. 8 The Planets, Gustav Holst.

Gordon Brown, Noel Edmonds, Sir Rocco Forte, Katharine Hamnett, Mike Harding, Graham Hill, Nicole Kidman, Ed Miliband, Wendy Richard and Barbara Taylor Bradford were among the 43 castaways who chose Jerusalem as one of their pieces of music, making it the most popular hymn on the island. Some of the most charming choices have been made by guests selecting music by their family members. Tony Benn selected a recording of his son Stephen singing a madrigal, Martin Clunes went for his daughter, Emily, singing Elton John’s Your Song with “her friend Daisy”. Spouses Brian May and Anita Dobson each separately chose recordings featuring the other. And Yoko Ono (whose favourite record was by the Cheeky Girls) chose Beautiful Boy by her late husband John Lennon and Magic by their son, Sean – the boy about whom Lennon’s song had been written. The pianist Dame Moura Lympany selected eight recordings of classical piano pieces, all performed by her. THE BOOKS On October 9 1951, the actor Henry Kendall chose the first book to be taken to the island, Who’s Who in the Theatre (later to be Plomley’s choice).

The first novel to be selected, by the actress Kathleen Harrison, was The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens. In 2003, George Clooney chose Tolstoy’s War and Peace as his book “as there may not be toilet paper, and that’s a huge book”. Tolstoy is the current runner-up to Dickens as the most popular author on the show, followed by Marcel Proust, Jane Austen, PG Wodehouse, Dante Alighieri, Kenneth Grahame (18 guests have selected The Wind in the Willows), and – equal eighth – Lewis Carroll and JRR Tolkien. A dozen guests, including Louis Armstrong, Lady Diana Cooper, Engelbert Humperdinck and Dame Thora Hird, have chosen their own autobiographies and a further 15 selected a book they had written. The travel writer John Hillaby went one better, selecting two of his own books, the second being taken as his luxury. Three castaways (Peter Barkworth, Stubby Kaye and Peter Nichols) have chosen their diary, while Sir Robert Mayer preferred his visitors’ book, and the cricketer Colin Cowdrey picked the Wisden recording of his first England tour of Australia.

The showjumper Harvey Smith is the only guest to have refused to take a book, telling Plomley: “I’ve never read a book in my life and I don’t intend to start for you, sir.” THE LUXURIES According to Plomley’s rules, the luxury must be “an inanimate object purely for the senses, which is not going to help you live”. Dame Edna Everage, the only fictional character to appear on the show, was also unique in choosing a person, albeit equally imaginary, as her luxury: her long-suffering sidekick Madge Allsop. The presenter, Lawley, says: “I reminded her that the luxury had to be an inanimate object. She assured me that Madge was exactly that. So I allowed it.” The first castaway to choose a luxury was the actress Sally Ann Howes. On September 11 1951, she chose garlic, which really was a luxury in a Britain still suffering food rationing. The golfer Colin Montgomerie is the only castaway to decline a luxury, arguing that “I’ve had enough luxury to last a lifetime”.

Golf clubs, meanwhile, have been chosen by Jimmy Tarbuck, Sir Bobby Robson and Sir Clive Woodward, among many other male castaways (Alice Cooper preferred an indoor golf driving range). The jazz singer Sarah Vaughan was the only woman ever to select golf equipment, and Lady Soames was the only female guest to choose cigars. On the other hand, four women (Nicole Kidman, Annie Lennox, Joan Collins and Sue MacGregor), but no men have chosen one item that really would come in handy on a desert island: sunblock. Many female guests have wanted to take clothes, shoes or toiletries with them, but men can be just as vain. Simon Cowell and Graham Norton both chose mirrors as their luxury. One imagines that desert islands have neither roads nor garages, yet male guests have been known to take cars with them on their journey, including a Ferrari, chosen by jazz drummer Buddy Rich, an Aston Martin DB9 (George Michael) and a fully restored Morris Minor Traveller with wooden details (Steve Coogan).

When asked what luxury she would take to her desert island, the actress and Sixties sex symbol Brigitte Bardot replied, in a thick French accent: “A peeniss.” Her host, Plomley, displaying commendable sang-froid replied: “Most interesting. Why, may I ask?” Bardot shrugged prettily and replied: “Because that is what ze world needs most – ’appiness.” THE HEADLINES Desert Island Discs is hardly Newsnight – the purpose of the programme is not to embarrass, shame or force confessions out of its guests. Yet the very fact that its inquisitors are always polite, if not necessarily benign, has lulled some castaways into a false sense of security, causing them to say things that they might have reason to regret. In 2010, journalist Lynn Barber’s confession that she had slept with “probably 50 men” during two terms at Oxford – terms which, Young pointed out, are very short – had Fleet Street columnists slavering over their keyboards. Pamela Stephenson was spared a similar fate in 1982, when her recollections of taking LSD were cut from the final broadcast.

In 1989, Lawley interviewed Lady Diana Mosley. The widow of the fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley was reminiscing about her friend Hitler, whom she described as “fascinating”, when Lawley asked: “What about the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis?” “Oh no, I don’t think it was as many as that. I know it was much, much less,” protested Lady Mosley. After a long, chilly silence, Lawley said crisply: “Tell us about your fifth record, Lady Mosley.” On the other hand, when Gok Wan appeared in 2010, it was the absence of any substance that provoked 10 formal complaints to the BBC and widespread media accusations of dumbing down, an allegation given some substance when Young asked Wan: “Take me through what you are wearing.” The tone of the programme has been somewhat raised again since then.

Desert Island Discs: Margaret Thatcher among new shows to go online | Media | The Guardian Radio 4 Desert Island Discs: Margaret Thatcher among new shows to go online More than 450 editions of Radio 4 show go on iPlayer, also including Philip Larkin, Princess Margaret and John Cleese Margaret Thatcher's 1978 appearance on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs is among a new batch of shows to go on the iPlayer. Photograph: ITV/Rex Features Thursday 17 May 2012 12.25 EDT First published on Thursday 17 May 2012 12.25 EDT Close This article is 4 years old She chose a survival manual as her book of choice and a photo album of her children as her luxury, revealing in her 1978 appearance on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs something of the woman she was to become. From Friday fans of Margaret Thatcher will be able to listen to the recording of prime minister-to-be for the first time since then, as the BBC puts more than 450 editions of the UK's longest-running radio show online.

The new recordings date from 1951 to Desert Island Discs creator and original presenter Roy Plomley's swan song in 1985. But they still represent less than a third of more than 1,785 editions made by Plomley from the launch of the show in January 1942. Many were not retained by the BBC, which did not have the archival space for them, and some of those uploaded include recordings made by the public and donated by the British Library. The BBC has promised to upload the full archive ever since Plomley's family agreed in 2009 to allow the BBC to offer old editions of the show via the iPlayer. Other recordings which have been uploaded include the 1977 edition with novelist Daphne du Maurier and appearances by Baroness Maria Von Trapp, the writers Tennessee Williams and Norman Mailer, and the actors Lauren Bacall and Natalie Wood. The earliest surviving recording features actor Margaret Lockwood from 1951. The new online archive also includes a selection of records as well as the obligatory book and luxury item selected by wartime general, Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery of Alamein.

Montgomery was the 1,000th castaway , appearing in 1969, seven years before his death in 1976. He chose a piano as his luxury and his own book, The History of Warfare, in order to "ponder how we might stop fighting". The poet Philip Larkin can also be heard for the first time since he recorded his desert island selections in July 1976. Alongside a number of jazz records his luxury is a typewriter and an unlimited supply of paper, as well as the complete plays of George Bernard Shaw to accompany the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, in accordance with Plomley's format.

Larkin, who is often portrayed as taciturn and unfriendly, also reveals an unexpectedly gregarious side of his nature, telling Plomley about his proposed exile: "I should be very happy for the first 24 hours and fairly happy after 48 hours but after that I suspect I should miss people and society in general." When Princess Margaret appeared in 1981 she revealed how "cosy" she found Buckingham Palace , as well as her fondness for Sixteen Tons by American country star Tennessee Ernie Ford, which she heard on the car radio while being chauffeured back to Kensington Palace. However, her actual musical selections were slightly more sedate, including Scotland the Brave played by the band of the Highland Fusiliers, a regiment she was colonel-in-chief of, and Brahms' Symphony No. 2. Spike Milligan made two appearances. In his second, in 1978, he chose a Barclaycard as his luxury item in order to "save money" on the island . John Cleese was another comedian to choose outlandish luxury items.

In 1997 he asked for Michael Palin but when told that he could not take a living person opted to have him stuffed. In a previous edition he requested a life-sized model of Thatcher and a baseball bat. In 1988 Dame Edna Everage opted for her sidekick, Madge Allsop, insisting that it met the rules of an inanimate object. The first Desert Island Discs was broadcast on January 29, 1942, with comedian Vic Oliver as the castaway. It has aired more than 3,000 editions and is one of Britain's longest-running radio series and continues to be accompanied by the famously dreamy theme tune, The Sleepy Lagoon, composed by Eric Coates in 1930. Michael Parkinson, a castaway in February 1972, took over from Plomley as presenter in January 1986 and was succeeded by Sue Lawley in 1988. Current host Kirsty Young took over in 2006. The show's executive producer Cathy Drysdale said: "This is fabulous archive, a rich collection for the listeners.

Bringing it together is the thing I am most proud of." She also urged listeners who have missing recordings to alert the BBC. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediatheguardian.com or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter at #!/mediaguardian and Facebook at Radio: Desert Island Discs, Between the Ears and Woman's Hour | Media | The Guardian Between the Ears R3 Woman's Hour R4 There was something more than slightly irregular about listening to Desert Island Discs last week in order to concentrate on presenter rather than castaway. But it was Kirsty Young's debut in the hot seat. And we need to know how - or whether - she is going to cope. She knows she must not be a Sue Lawley soundalike.

And it seems likely that with her lovely, unpushy Scottish voice and warm manner, she will have most of her subjects eating out of her hand. Yet Lawley is a formidable act to follow. It may be a while before Young feels as confident as she sounds. Children's illustrator Quentin Blake was her first quarry - a surprising choice. Perhaps he was seen by the programme's producers as a safe bet, the interviewer's equivalent of the nursery slopes. Blake is clever, shy, delightful, but he is also uncontroversial. Revelations included a sweet story about Roald Dahl sending Blake, through the post, a gigantic sandal wrapped up in brown paper - suggested footwear for the BFG. It was nice, too, to learn that Blake sometimes draws with a vulture's feather. And I was intrigued when he likened Janacek's string quartet 'Intimate Letters', with its peaks of passion, to what it feels like to draw. (I shall have to take a second look at my favourite of his picture books, All Join In.) But Janacek aside, there was a lack of intimacy. Blake would appear, on the evidence of this programme, to have no personal life.

Instead, there was much laughter (they liked each other). The programme resembled a conversation at a successful but strained party. Blake observed that it was important to relax, as an illustrator, and not worry about spoiling your work. Perhaps that is true of being a presenter, too. It will take time to adjust. I could not help missing Sue Lawley's killer softness, her way of dropping her voice, like an experienced nurse, when raising something unpalatable. She was especially brilliant, I always thought, at asking her subjects whether they were frightened of dying. It remains to be seen how Kirsty will handle the difficult questions. So far, she has not asked any. It was also the week of two 60th birthday celebrations: Radio 3 and Woman's Hour. Both were marvellously unself-congratulatory. Between the Ears's Three and a Third, put together by Alan Hall, was a splendid collage from a 60-year-old archive - a send-up and celebration. The windy elitism of the past now seems unbelievable but all the more enjoyable for that. 'The new meaning of highbrow' was discussed and whether a person might be described as having a 'Third Programme mind'.

But the piece de resistance was John Holstrom who, in 1985 talked his way through an unscheduled half-hour gap at the Proms while workmen tried to move a piano on to the stage. I adored Holstrom referring to it as a 'skittish young piano' and the charming desperation with which he resorted to telling listeners, with great animation, about new television licensing laws. But the best (for him, presumably, the worst) moment was when, after a spell back with 'continuity', we were returned to the Royal Albert Hall and assured that the Prom was finally about to start, only to hear Holstrom telling us: 'I can't report total success... but progress has been made.' What a man. Woman's Hour at 60 proved as skittish as Holstrom's piano. The only difference was that it had no trouble getting up on stage for a birthday special. Jenni Murray and Martha Kearney informed us that it was the bikini's 60th birthday, too, which explained, they volunteered, what they were wearing (hard to be certain, from the audience reaction, what to believe).

There were excellent impersonations, especially by Maureen Lipman as Joyce Grenfell, but of all the contributors, Jackie Kay was the greatest treat. She is that unusual thing: a poet who reads aloud brilliantly; her poem about knitting is a small masterpiece. 'I knit to keep death away,' it began. The perfect poem with which to ravel up the sleeve of care - or to silence Sue Lawley. · Miranda Sawyer is away BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs - The History of Desert Island Discs Read more about sharing. The History of Desert Island Discs Late one evening in 1941, freelance broadcaster Roy Plomley was at his home and already in his pyjamas, when an idea came to him. He sat down and wrote immediately to the BBC. That letter reached the in-tray of the BBC’s Head of Popular Record Programmes, Leslie Perowne. The pitch was successful and a broadcasting institution was born. That first Desert Island Discs was recorded in the BBC’s bomb-damaged Maida Vale studio on 27th January 1942 and aired in the Forces Programme at 8pm two days later.

It was introduced to the listening public as "a programme in which a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you, assuming of course, that you had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles". Plomley’s first castaway was the popular Viennese comedian, actor and musician, Vic Oliver. The first piece of music chosen by Vic Oliver, and therefore by any castaway, was Chopin’s Étude No.12 in C minor played by pianist Alfred Cortot. During these war years, every BBC Radio show was scripted and Plomley and his guests would 'read' their conversations. On 7th May 1942 Roy Plomley made his first appearance as a castaway when the programme was presented by Leslie Perowne. The programme came off air in 1946 returning to the Home Service in 1951. On 16th September that year, the choice of luxury was introduced when garlic was chosen by the actress Sally Ann Howes.

The choice of book made its first appearance on 9th October 1951 when actor and director Henry Kendall chose Who’s Who in the Theatre. According to Roy Plomley’s book, Desert Island Lists, in addition to the volume of Shakespeare, the castaways would be given a copy of the Bible, which was assumed to have been deposited there by The Gideon Society. In September 1967, Desert Island Discs transferred to the newly created Radio 4 service. Roy Plomley continued to present the programme until his death, from pleurisy, in May 1985. He was 71. He was replaced by Michael Parkinson who dispensed with the ritual of the pre-recording lunch at Plomley’s club, the Garrick, and insisted that the music was played to the guests during the recording rather than edited in afterwards. Parkinson presented the last of his 96 programmes on 13th March 1988, when his guest was the athlete Brendan Foster.

Sue Lawley became the first female presenter and over the following 18 years, Lawley, a former Nationwide presenter, interviewed 750 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport. Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Lawley left Desert Island Discs in August 2006 and was replaced by journalist and broadcaster, Kirsty Young. During her tenure in the chair the programme has become available to listen again online and is available as a download. Desert Island Discs - Mature Times Home / LIFESTYLE / Desert Island Discs Posts navigation Desert Island Discs I have been an avid listener of Desert Island Discs over the years and in May 2011 when listeners were asked to submit their own choice I spent hours mulling over my top 8 pieces of music. I thought I had it sorted and then another selection sang in my head. And as for choosing one favourite book to take and a luxury….! History of the programme Late one evening in 1941, freelance broadcaster Roy Plomley was at his home and already in his pyjamas, when an idea came to him. He sat down and wrote immediately to the BBC.

That letter reached the in-tray of the BBC’s Head of Popular Record Programmes, Leslie Perowne. The pitch was successful and a broadcasting institution was born. That first Desert Island Discs was recorded in the BBC’s bomb-damaged Maida Vale studio on 27th January 1942 and aired in the Forces Programme at 8pm two days later. It was introduced to the listening public as “a programme in which a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you, assuming of course, that you had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles”. Plomley’s first castaway was the popular Viennese comedian, actor and musician, Vic Oliver. The first piece of music chosen by Vic Oliver, and therefore by any castaway, was Chopin’s Étude No.12 in C minor played by pianist Alfred Cortot. During these war years, every BBC Radio show was scripted and Plomley and his guests would ‘read’ their conversations.

On 7th May 1942 Roy Plomley made his first appearance as a castaway when the programme was presented by Leslie Perowne. The programme came off air in 1946 returning to the Home Service in 1951. On 16th September that year, the choice of luxury was introduced when garlic was chosen by the actress Sally Ann Howes. The choice of book made its first appearance on 9th October 1951 when actor and director Henry Kendall chose Who’s Who in the Theatre. According to Roy Plomley’s book, Desert Island Lists, in addition to the volume of Shakespeare, the castaways would be given a copy of the Bible, which was assumed to have been deposited there by The Gideon Society. In September 1967, Desert Island Discs transferred to the newly created Radio 4 service. Roy Plomley continued to present the programme until his death, from pleurisy, in May 1985. He was 71.

He was replaced by Michael Parkinson who dispensed with the ritual of the pre-recording lunch at Plomley’s club, the Garrick, and insisted that the music was played to the guests during the recording rather than edited in afterwards. Parkinson presented the last of his 96 programmes on 13th March 1988, when his guest was the athlete Brendan Foster. Sue Lawley became the first female presenter and over the following 18 years, Lawley, a former Nationwide presenter, interviewed 750 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport. Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Lawley left Desert Island Discs in August 2006 and was replaced by journalist and broadcaster, Kirsty Young. During her tenure in the chair the programme has become available to listen again online and is available as a download. Over the decades there have been hundreds of famous names who have made their choices and on the BBC website there are 1,500 programmes available for access. The variety of guests is staggering from Politicians, Movie Stars, Royalty and celebrities from all walks of life.

While I enjoy listening to the music for me the most fascinating aspect is the way that the interviewer manages to elicit facts about the castaways. I have learnt more about a personality from listening to Kirsty Young ask pertinent questions, than any other sources. This is not a celebrity interview but a way of bringing out details about their lives. The top eight music selections from the public for that special programme in 2011 are below: 1. Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending 2. Sir Edward Elgar – Enigma Variations 3. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 9 in D minor ‘Choral’ 4. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody

Question: Who was the first female presenter of Desert Island Discs
Answer: Sue Lawley